RedStorm closes season with loss to Red Wolves in RSC Tournament

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - For the longest time on Monday night, it appeared as if the University of Rio Grande men's basketball team was going to be successful in reversing their recent fortunes.
     Unfortunately, once all was said and done, the RedStorm found themselves dealing with one last gut-wrenching loss.
     Indiana University East rallied from an 11-point deficit with just over 13 minutes remaining and defeated Rio Grande, 78-76, Monday night, in the first round of the River States Conference Men's Basketball Championship at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     IU East, seeded ninth in the 10-team tourney field, improved to 12-17 with the victory and advanced to Wednesday night's quarterfinals to face top-seeded Point Park University.
     The 8th-seeded RedStorm, whose last two losses in River States Conference regular season play had both come in overtime, finished its season at 12-17.
     Head coach Ryan Arrowood's club played a second straight game without one of its leading scorers, sophomore Trent Hundley (Mt. Orab, OH), in addition to junior reserve Khamani Smith (Fort Wayne, IN), who was sidelined by the flu.
     Still, Rio led by as many as 13 points in the first half and enjoyed a seven-point advantage, 39-32, at the intermission. The lead was boosted back to 11 points, 53-41, after a jumper by senior Taylor Mack (Akron, OH) with 13:27 left in the contest.
     But the Red Wolves roared to life with a 17-5 run over the next five minutes and tied the game at 58-all after a pair of free throws by Colt Meyer with 8:31 remaining.
     Two ties and four lead changes followed over the next three minutes, before IUE reeled off a 9-0 scoring spurt to grab a 74-65 lead after a layup by Ibra Athie with 3:31 left to play.
     Rio Grande never led again and got no closer than the game's final margin, which came after sophomore Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) canned a three-point goal as time expired.
     The RedStorm did get as close as 74-71 following a layup by Robertson with 1:09 remaining and 76-73 after two free throws by sophomore Greg Stewart (Cincinnati, OH) with 20 seconds left, but the Red Wolves sealed the win by going 4-for-4 at the foul line in the final 25 seconds - all by Meyer.
     IUE finished the game 21-for-27 at the foul line, while Rio went 5-for-6. The RedStorm didn't attempt a free throw until the 8:47 mark of the second half.
     Meyer scored a game-high 24 points and had four steals for the Red Wolves, while Jake Johnson added 15 points and nine rebounds and Devon Woods tallied 12 points and three assists.
     Antuane Allen also had 10 points off the bench for IUE, which shot 45.5 percent over all (25-for-55) and just over 41 percent from distance (7-for-17).
     Mack scored a career-high 18 points and had a team-high eight rebounds for Rio Grande, on the heels of a career-high 17 points against Shawnee State on Saturday.
     Robertson finished with 16 points and three assists in the loss, while freshman Aiden Porter (Proctorville, OH) tossed in a career-best 14 points and junior Eythan House (Montrose, Australia) had 12.
     Rio Grande was 32-for-66 overall (48.5%) and finished with a 36-32 edge in rebounding.
     The game marked the final contest in a RedStorm uniform for Mack, Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands), Lucas Bateman (Melbourne, Australia), Braam Hein (Murrumbateman, Australia) and Erwin Gutic (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina).